Cousin charged in shooting on St. Paul's East Side

A fight between cousins over money resulted in the daytime shooting death Wednesday of Lemar Hale, according to murder charges filed Thursday afternoon by the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Chevaze Darrell Ward, 24, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Prosecutors allege that he shot and killed Hale just after noon on Wednesday as Hale was trying to pull him out of a car near the intersection of Arcade Street and Case Avenue on the city’s East Side.

According to the criminal complaint:

The two men, who are cousins, had been involved in an argument for the past several days and had been talking about getting into a fight. On Wednesday, while a car that Ward was riding in was stopped, a car that Hale was riding in pulled up alongside Ward’s car. Witnesses said Hale got out of his car and opened the door to the other car to pull Ward out.

“The defendant then pulled a handgun out of a white sock and shot LRH multiple times. The defendant then ran away on foot,” the complaint said. Several others then loaded Hale into a car and drove him to a nearby fire station for help.

According to other witnesses, Ward had said that he wouldn’t fight Hale if he was confronted. He would “just shoot whoever wanted to fight with him.”

Just before he was shot, Hale posted on his Facebook page about a man who had threatened to shoot him. Hale was shot several times, police say, but died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Paramedics at the fire station worked to revive Hale before taking him to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Ward was arrested shortly after the shooting when officers spotted a man in the area who matched witnesses’ descriptions, walking at a quick pace and “sweating profusely.” Police also recovered a handgun in a tube sock nearby.

Ward and Hale have criminal records and have been arrested on drug offenses. Ward served time at the prison in St. Cloud for a 2008 drug offense, records show. He is expected to make his first court appearance Friday.